The Powder Mage trilogy takes no time to ease you into the world or story, throwing you right into the aftermath of a bloody coup against the monarchy. We follow Field Marshal Tamas in his attempts to build and hold together this new Republic as it teeters on the brink. Between political unrest, rival kingdoms, petty gods and the ambitions of his own co-conspirators.
Primarily bouncing between Tamas, his son Taniel “Two-shot” a military hero in his own right and infamous as one of the strongest powder mages as well as Adamat a retired police inspector who is dragged into the political machinations and forced to root out the growing corruption both for Tamas and for the protection of his own family. Of course there are plenty more characters involved, Taniel’s mysterious partner Ka-Poel, Tamas’ adopted daughter and fellow powder mage Vlora, Borbador the last surviving member of the King’s mage cabal and so many more. The way each character's stories intersect and combine and we learn of their individual ambitions and backgrounds it creates a world that feels real and complicated and messy.
Worldbuilding in the series is fascinating because while it is primarily a military fantasy series there’s a lot of different points of view from different levels of citizenry which helps flesh out the structure of the world and republic in ways that are often missed when a series focuses only on a soldier or only on a politician. Also the magic systems! We like magic systems! Woo! There’s a few different systems going on that all work slightly differently, from the Privileged who seem to have a lesser form of God’s magic, to the Gods, to Powder Mages who specifically can only use magic regarding gunpowder to whatever the heck Ka-Poel is doing. There’s a ton of different systems that all get a decent amount of focus so if you like playing with magic systems there are plenty to choose from.
The Powder Mage Trilogy is a great entry series for military fantasy, if you’ve ever wanted to try the genre but have been too daunted by series like Malazan Book of the Fallen then Powder Mage with its completed three book trilogy is a great length to dip your toes in and try out. And if you really find you enjoy it and want more there is also a sequel trilogy Gods of Blood and Powder as well as a completely new series by Brian McClellan called Glass Immortals which has its second book releasing next year to help you scratch that itch.
